As Muzaffarnagar burned, Akhilesh Yadav govt failed to act

An unidentified man injured in communal clashes watches as he receives treatment at a district hospital in Muzaffarnagar, about 125 kilometers (78 miles) north of ...

A policeman checks a civilian for weapons during a curfew in Muzaffarnagar, about 125 kilometers (78 miles) north of New Delhi. (AP Photo)

A man injured in communal clashes is carried on a stretcher after in Muzaffarnagar, about 125 kilometers (78 miles) north of New Delhi. (AP Photo)

Policemen recover arms and ammunition during a door-to-door search operation in Muzaffarnagar, about 125 kilometers (78 miles) north of New Delhi. (AP Photo)

Mehrana, a 6-year-old girl injured in communal clashes, gets treatment at a district hospital in Muzaffarnagar, about 125 kilometers (78 miles) north of New Delhi. ...

Paramilitary soldiers patrol a street during a curfew imposed following communal clashes in Muzaffarnagar. (AP Photo)

Paramilitary soldiers urge civilians to stay indoors during a curfew in Muzaffarnagar, about 125 kilometers (78 miles) north of New Delhi. (AP Photo)

People help a young child after she was injured during communal clashes as they leave a hospital after getting first aid in Muzaffarnagar, about 125 ...

Soldiers keep watch during a patrol following communal riots between two communities in Muzaffarnagar, India's Uttar Pradesh state. (AFP Photo)

A policeman holds recovered arms during a door-to-door search operation in Muzaffarnagar, about 125 kilometers (78 miles) north of New Delhi, India. (AP Photo)

Muzaffarnagar may well go on to change political equations in Uttar Pradesh, the state which sends the highest — 80 — number of members to the Lok Sabha, in an election year and the “change” doesn’t seem to augur well for the ruling Samajwadi Party.

The SP’s Yadav-Muslim equation has come under tremendous pressure because of the Akhilesh government’s failure to prevent the communal flare-up that has claimed 37 lives.

Several Muslim organisations on Wednesday demanded that the government be dismissed for failing to check the violence.

The ineptness of the state government, led by 40-year-old Akhilesh Singh Yadav, the youngest chief minister in the country, was visible right from the word go. The “confusion” created by the Yadav clan leaders — especially the CM’s father and SP boss Mulayam Singh Yadav — proved to be disastrous during the state’s worst communal conflagration in decades. The SP though is harping on a BJP-BSP-Congress conspiracy.

Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said on Wednesday that the Centre had alerted 11 states about possible communal violence ahead of next year’s general polls.

But the administration and police force were so confused over the chain of command that even after the killing of three young men in Kaval village on August 27, they chose to do nothing but wait for the leaders to come up with a solution.

Though intelligence agencies alerted the state about brewing tension between Hindus and Muslims, the district administration permitted the BJP, Bharatiya Kisan Union and a Jat khap to convene the September 7 mahapanchayat.

What followed was a vicious cycle of violence that quickly engulfed rural areas which made the work of law enforcement agencies even more difficult. No preventive arrests were made though the police had prepared a list of rioters in all the 75 districts of the state. The administration didn’t even try to reach out to the people who have enough clout to soothe communal tension.

Lives could have been saved had the government imposed curfew earlier or moved in more forces. In the end, it all boils down to failure of the government to act in time.